I Gave Up My $3 Morning Coffee

The Easiest Change To Make

One of the first expenses I tackled was to give up my morning coffee at the local coffee shop. A coffee in the morning is how I started my day. It is how I started every day!

Who doesn’t love their local barista or that morning latte. We all do, even I did. It really is a wonderful treat!

I still enjoy my daily coffee(s) but I choose to do it differently while saving.  Square recent released data that said the average coffee drinker visits their local coffee shop 6 times per month.  They also shared that the average cup of coffee runs about $2.75, not including the 20% tip that most of us leave. Let’s call it an even $3 each time you visit your local coffee hangout.  If you choose the more elegant route, say a tall, non-fat soy latte with caramel drizzle, you are nearing $5. Who still drinks just a regular cup of coffee these days? Most of us don’t think twice, simply swipe our debit card and move on. I gave up my morning coffee, you can too!

Substitute Your Morning Coffee

When I started, I cut out one visit per month, a simple $3 that I put towards saving.  Over 30 years, saving that single coffee per month invested @ 7% annualized return will return over $3500.  If you choose to cut out your $5-dollar caramel drizzle, it is $6200 over the same period. The power of compound interest.  I simply substituted a latte at home for $0.35 cents in a fancy, stainless steel tumbler.  Today, we have cut nearly 50% of our coffee runs. We still have coffee out about once per week. Regardless, I feel much better about the $11000 dollars long-term vs the $3-dollar latte today.  I gave up my morning coffee that once cost $3 that now costs 1/10th of that. One simple way to shave a few pennies and start the journey of mastering personal finance.

Remember that life is a game never won or lost, only played.